October
2004
THE NATIONAL ARTS JOURNALISM PROGRAM IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE
additions and changes to its advisory board. Originally instituted
to advise the NAJP on fellowship selections and program initiatives,
the board is being restructured to assist the NAJP in strategic
planning and development initiatives. New board members and a changing
board structure will enhance the program's reach and effectiveness
as it continues its work on behalf of the improvement of arts journalism
and the national dialogue on cultural issues.

Two accomplished arts journalists, both
NAJP alumni, have agreed to join the board:

John Habich is fine-arts
editor of Newsday, supervising coverage of theater, dance, classical
music, visual arts and architecture. He previously served as senior
culture editor at the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, where he founded
the Talking Volumes book club in partnership with Minnesota Public
Radio and the Loft Literary Center. After a single year, the club
had a greater regional impact on book sales than "Oprah,"
according to Publishers Weekly. Mr. Habich was an NAJP fellow in
1999-2000. Originally from Wisconsin, he lives in New York with
his partner, the writer Andrew Solomon.

Douglas McLennan is
an arts journalist, critic and the founder and editor of ArtsJournal.com,
the leading aggregator of arts journalism on the Internet. Prior
to starting ArtsJournal, he was an arts columnist for the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, an arts writer for the Tacoma News Tribune and
an arts reporter for Seattle Weekly. A former concert pianist, he
has a master's degree in music from the Juilliard School. He has
performed in Asia, Europe and North America and has lived and worked
in Canada, Italy and China. Mr. McLennan's new role on the advisory
board coincides with the launch of a new partnership between ArtsJournal
and NAJP.

In addition, two new committees - a
task force on fundraising and program development and a task force
on alumni relations - are being established within the NAJP advisory
board.

Stuart Wilk, vice president
and associate editor of The Dallas Morning News, has agreed to chair
the development task force. A widely known and respected news-industry
veteran, he joined the newspaper in 1980 and was appointed to his
current post in 2004. He has served in a variety of positions, including,
most recently, nine years as managing editor. He started his career
as a reporter at the Milwaukee Sentinel after attending New York
University, Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin.
He is national president of the Associated Press Managing Editors.
Mr. Wilk is on the advisory boards of Consumer Web Watch and the
Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. He was a juror for the
1997 Pulitzer Prizes and a jury chairman for the 1998 Pulitzers.

John Horn will chair
the alumni task force. An NAJP fellow in 1996-97, he is entertainment
reporter for The Los Angeles Times, where he has worked since 2002
covering the film business and Hollywood. He was previously a senior
writer at Newsweek and at Premiere magazine, and the entertainment
writer for The Associated Press. Mr. Horn is a graduate of the University
of California, Berkeley, where he studied dramatic arts. He began
his journalism career at the Orange County Register. He is a trustee
of the Humanitas Awards and serves on the editorial and alumni boards
of the Polytechnic School, and for the last two years has been a
volunteer teacher with the Inside/Out Writers Program at Los Angeles'
Central Juvenile Hall. "These changes will greatly increase
our firepower as we continue our advocacy on behalf of NAJP and
the wider arts-journalism field," said NAJP director Andras
Szanto. "We are deeply grateful to these accomplished friends
of the program, and to all the members of our advisory board, for
their commitment to NAJP. Their contributions are a vote of confidence
in a one-of-a-kind program that serves a vital and growing need."

Also currently serving on NAJP's advisory
board are Karen Brooks, arts and culture editor
of The Oregonian (Portland); Jeanne Carstensen,
senior arts and culture editor of sfgate.com; Jack Davis,
publisher of The Hartford Courant; Arthur Gelb,
director of the New York Times College Scholarships; Michael
Janeway, professor of journalism and the arts at Columbia
University and NAJP's director from 1997-2004; Jay Kernis,
senior vice president for programming at National Public Radio;
Abe Peck, Sills professor of journalism at Northwestern
University and NAJP's director from 1994-97; Ray Rinaldi,
assistant managing editor for features and arts at The Denver Post;
John Rockwell, senior cultural correspondent for
The New York Times; Susan Stamberg, special correspondent
for the arts at NPR; and James Warren, deputy managing
editor of The Chicago Tribune. In addition, Samuel Freedman,
a professor of journalism at Columbia University's Graduate School
of Journalism, now serves as senior faculty advisor to the program.

The NAJP is also assembling a national
council of senior advisors. Further changes on the board will be
announced in the coming months.